The purpose of this study was to ascertain the impact of residency and guardianship requirements on the provision of educational opportunities to homeless children and youth. Specifically, the study sought to identify existing legal entanglements, from both state and local policy sources, that resulted in the denial of a free, appropriate public education to these students. In addition, remedies to these problems are analyzed and recommendations made to alleviate their recurrence. Section 1 includes the following parts: (1) "Incidence of Homelessness"; (2) "Definitions of Homelessness"; and (3) "Federal Legislation for the Homeless." Section 2 presents the methodology of the study, which included a survey of homeless service providers and public school officials and a case law review. Section 3 discusses the results of the survey and the case law review, which included an exploration of cases specifically involving residence and guardianship requirements as barriers to education. The study found that the educational provisions of the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act are essentially non-regulatory, relying on meager funding to motivate states to confront the problems of educating homeless children and youth. In addition, since future funding is uncertain, advocates for the homeless may have the greatest impact by focusing their efforts on state legislatures and state education agencies to remove or minimize the residency and guardianship barriers to education. Three tables and three figures are included. A list of 28 references is included. (JS)